Saturday, September 17, 2011

Bacon, The Restaurant

If you know me, you may know how I revere bacon. I can't say the word bacon normally. It comes out like the dog from the Beggin' Strips commercial "BACON!!!". On the way to Bacon today, I just kept saying "Bacon, bacon bacon, BACON!!!" They opened on September 9. I think I've actually had that dog's voice in my head for eight days. How did I ever concentrate on anything else?

I rarely go to any new restaurant within the first few weeks. Have to let them work out the kinks and all. But this was Bacon. I was willing to risk the kinks.

You'll likely have to park on the street and feed the meter. The meters conveniently take credit cards and it's a lot less expensive than downtown parking lots, so that's not a huge deterrent. (I normally grouse about paying for parking). They opened in the old Screaming Goat location. An old converted house with newly painted buttery yellow walls. Ahhh, butter, another food near to my heart. Probably literally. But, I digress. There are tables inside and a back room with a narrow counter facing a window to the back. There is also seating outside. The seating inside was scarce, but we found a place. You order at the counter and get a numbered table tent. They bring the food out to you. The staff was insanely busy but all of them were maintaining upbeat attitudes. Our cashier was super friendly. We appreciated their earnestness.

We got our own sodas, Maine Root (love that!). They were out of ice on our first pass. Little kink. I'll forgive. Food took awhile, but not to the point we thought we'd been forgotten. Just a new restaurant finding their feet. There was a soundtrack of indie acoustic stuff playing. It was coffeehouse mellow, but not moody. It fit the vibe. We spent our time trying to tune out a dbag trying to impress his dining companion with his knowledge of "badass psychotherapist Yalom". Some things are just so Austin.

The food passing us looked amazing. I had pretty much wanted to order everything on the menu, except for the salad. We saw a lot of chicken & waffle plates being ordered. But that had no bacon. Their specialty is different flavored bacons. You can order a strip of bacon for $2. Today they had a choice of Hickory or Pecan-Coffee. I used restraint and didn't order the whole menu. I ordered the Bacon Fries with my choice of bacon, the Pecan-Coffee bacon. Guess I'll just have to go back again and again until I've tried everything.

When my Bacon Fries first came out, my heart sank a little. They didn't use fresh cut fries. In fact, their fries resembled McDonald's fries in size and color. My disappointment didn't last, though. I dug in and found it to be way more delicious than it looked. I still think fresh cut fries would have been more appropriate for a place that makes so many of their other things in-house. Still, the fries themselves held up well to the cheese and bacon toppings, so props for that. I think they used a sea salt on them, which went just to the brink of oversalted, but not quite. The cheese was the perfect amount. (BTW, in my world, that means "a lot"). I liked that they used a sharp cheddar, so that when it was melted, it still held it's flavor instead of mellowing too much. The bacon, oh the bacon. I thought I'd had good bacon before. This was on a whole 'nother level. The specialty flavor was subtle. In fact, I didn't taste it and think "coffee bacon". It was just perfectly salty and smokey. The key is the thickness. I can never find good bacon in the grocery store. Thick sliced can be tough and chewy and never crisps right. Thin can be like paper and just disintegrate. This bacon was just right. And they also made sure there was enough bacon to get some in every bite. Thank you Bacon.

My husband, the grumpy fat man, ordered the "Double Grind", a half pound burger that they grind in house with steak and bacon together. I tasted it and it was delicious. The burger was juicy and flavorful, the bacon ground together with the beef added a smokiness. He declared that burger as one of his Top 10. Better than a lot of burger joints. He only wondered later if he might have missed something by not having the bacon on the burger instead of part of the burger. I think we'll have to go back to test out the theory. Wink wink.